


Playing music and coming out

by What_point



Series: painting nails and coming out [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Has Anxiety (Julie and The Phantoms), And there is no reason as why I didn't post it earlier, Bisexual Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bisexuality, Coming Out, Except for the fact that I forgot, Fluff, Friendship, How Do I Tag, Post-Season/Series 01, Protective Alex (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Has ADHD (Julie and The Phantoms), This was written a month ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28093503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/What_point/pseuds/What_point
Summary: "Alex, I'm bisexual."Alex opens his arms to him, pulling him into a hug. Reggie lets himself be held, burrowing his nose in Alex hoodie. He takes in the familiar smell, it's the same as twenty five years ago."Thank you for telling me, Reggie. I'm really glad you discovered this part of yourself." Alex says against his hair....Follow up of "Painting nails and bisexuals", you don't need to read that to understand this, but I recommend it.
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: painting nails and coming out [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984894
Comments: 13
Kudos: 129





	Playing music and coming out

**Author's Note:**

> A few people ask about a part two where Reggie comes out to Alex and Luke. I craved so here we are. Reggie coming out to Alex.
> 
> (I wrote and edited this more than a month ago and promptly forgot to post it, so here it is at last.)
> 
> I hope you like it!

Reggie poofs into the garage, materialising just above the open space by the doors. He stumbles forwards, making a gracious landing before steadying on his feet.

His gaze shifts around the room, past the couch and the piano before focusing on Alex. Who is sitting on his stool by his drums, chin resting on his palm, watching him.

"Hey," Reggie says, moving towards his own bass guitar, "Julie and Luke not here yet?"

Alex sits upright, stretching his back and arms. His hoodie rides up, showing the shirt underneath for a second. He shakes his head.

"No, Julie is still finishing homework, I think."

"And Luke is at…"

"Yeah."

Reggie fiddles a bit with the guitar strap, before throwing a look over his shoulder.  _ Luke is there almost every day now, that can't be good _ . Alex grimaces, telling him he feels the same.

Reggie sits down, laying his feet on the coffee table. Tuning his guitar, turning the tuning keys.

"We can play a little while we wait for them to get here."

Alex nods, drumsticks ready in his hands.

"Just for fun?"

Reggie grins at him in response. He starts running his fingers over the strings, playing different accords, trying to match the rhythm Alex sets.

Soon they have an easy baseline where they can differ from. Sometimes he misses when he tries something, but more often than not, Alex is there to catch him.

After several minutes passes, his hands start to cramp. He still continues with aimlessly plucking on the strings, repeating the parts that sound interesting. He lets his hands do the work, mind drifting off. The black nail polish on his nails is almost completely chipped away. It takes longer to disappear than he originally thought.

Alex abruptly stops, causing Reggie to look up. He opens his mouth, only for the question to die on his lips. Alex is staring straight at him, brows furrowed and shoulders tensed.

"Okay, spill."

"What?”

Alex stands just as sudden as he stopped, his eyes not leaving him. Reggie's fingers lay uselessly on the neck of his guitar as he watches Alex make his way around the drums.

"You know you can walk through instead of around, right?" Reggie says, chuckling nervously as Alex only raises his eyebrow in response.

Alex lets himself fall down next to him, the couch dipping under his weight. His knee knocks against his, as he places his drumsticks on the table. Reggie is hit with the sudden question as how they are able to move the couch cushions, but will move through cabinet doors. The look in Alex's eyes tells him not to try again.

"You have been fidgety all week, so something is troubling you."

"I'm always fidgety. 'tis nothing new, you know that."

Alex gives him an unimpressed look, "I know the difference between your way of releasing energy and you being on edge about something, thank you very much."

As to prove his point, Alex pushes softly against his shoulder, immediately Reggie feels his whole body tense up. He forces himself to relax, but Alex has already removed his hand. He pointy doesn't look his way, knowing how the drummer is looking at him.

Alex signs, gentle laying his arm around his shoulder. Slowly, as not to scare him.

"Reggie, you started playing 'home is where my horse is'. You only play that when something is on your mind."

Reggie sags into himself, knowing he can't win this fight. He goes over his nail with his thumb, some black flakes let go, falling into his open hand.

"I outed you to Flynn, I shouldn't have without your consent. Julie said I had to talk with you about it," he tells the coffee table.

"Oh," is the only thing Alex says. His arm remains around him. Reggie glances at the drummer from the corner of his eye.  _ He doesn't seem angry or upset. _

"Oh?" He asks, running his palm over the strings.

"I never thought about the fact that she didn't know," Alex says, scratching his hairline.

"I thought she already knew, otherwise I would never tell someone. Not without asking you first."

"I know," Alex squeezes his shoulder lightly, "I trust you."

Reggie smiles at him, but he knows it's weak. He feels as if Alex's eyes pierce through him, reading him like an open book.

"You're still nervous," Alex concludes, "you outing me isn't what made you jumpy all week."

"No, you're right." Reggie lets his eyes wander off, watching the plants outside move through the window, the chairs stuck on the ceiling, the light of the sun formed beams that fall to the ground.

"How did that even come up, though?"

"Flynn explained what bisexual means. She asked if I knew what gay is. I told her I did, and that you are."

"Oh," Alex says, sounding deep in thought, he shifts, his knee gently hits his knee again. Reggie peeks at him, before taking his bass guitar off his shoulder, letting it rest against the side of the couch. He runs his hand up over the strings, causing more black nail polish flakes to fall down. When he sits back up, he slightly turns Alex's way.

"You know what bisexual is?” he asks when Alex doesn't continue.

"Yeah, Julie and I did go through some stuff in June." Alex says, still far away. He looks as if he has all the puzzle pieces, but now has to figure out what picture they form.

"That sounds nice of her," Reggie says while pulling and turning the fabric of the sleeves of his blouse. Unable to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

Alex nods, focusing on him, snapping out of his daze, "It was."

His eyes shift down to Reggie's hands, only for a mere second, before he looks up again. Reggie forces himself to stop moving. Alex frowns, shortly placing his hand over his, squeezing softly.

"Don't stop because of me, if it helps you, it helps you."

Reggie nods, but leaves his hands rested over his knees. His foot starts hitting the ground in an almost inaudible rhythm.

"You know you can tell me."

"I know, but it's still so scary. I don't know how you did this."

Alex smiles, rubbing his thumb back and forth over his shoulder. His eyes warm and welcoming.

"Oh man, how did you do this after your parents, I mean, here I am. You already know what I have to say and still I can't say it."

"It took me a while, I knew you guys would not treat me different, not see me different, but it is one hell of a step."

"Yeah," Reggie signs, forcing the build up tension out of him with the breath. He makes fists, pushing his nails in his palm, not yet hurting himself, but enough to bring his mind back.

"Okay," he says while squeezing his eyes shut, turning fully to Alex. He forces his hands open, palms resting up.

"Okay, yeah, okay. I can do this."

Alex stays quiet, but his hand lays comforting against his skin.

Reggie opens his eyes, taking in a single breath. More to calm himself than the human need to do so.

"Alex, I'm bisexual."

Alex opens his arms to him, pulling him into a hug. Reggie lets himself be held, burrowing his nose in Alex hoodie. He takes in the familiar smell, it's the same as twenty five years ago.

"Thank you for telling me, Reggie. I'm really glad you discovered this part of yourself." Alex says against his hair.

"I love you, man," Reggie says, feeling tears form in his eyes. If his grip tightens, Alex doesn't say anything about it.

"I love you too."

"Thank you for being here," he mutters against Alex's shoulder. He closes his eyes when the first tears start rolling down his face, disappearing in the fabric of Alex’s hoodie.

"We are family, nothing will change that," Alex says. A dry sob escapes him. He pushes his face more against Alex's shoulder.

They both stay quiet, Alex hand rubbing gently back and forth over his shoulder.

"You're making me cry," he mutters, his voice muffled.

"You're allowed to cry, Reg, there's nothing wrong with that."

He lets out a snort, pushing himself upright. A blurry Alex is looking at him. Reggie rubs his eyes, a few stray tears escape, rolling down. The world is still cloudy, but he ignores it.

"Yeah, you're right, but this shouldn't be a sad moment."

Alex stands up, picking up his drumsticks in the movement. He turns around on his heels, extending his other hand to him. Reggie grabs it, pulling himself upright. He stretches his back, hearing his sore muscles pop. He isn’t sure he actually does, if he even has them any more. He ignores the thought, leaning sideways to pick up his bass guitar.

"I remember that I cried a whole lot," Alex says, matter of factly.

"But you are the sensitive one," Reggie jokes, moving to softly hit his shoulder. He misses as Alex darts away, further into the room. Alex rolls his eyes, letting out a puff of air, arms crossed.

"Keep telling yourself that."

Reggie laughs, causing Alex’s fake angry expression to fall away as he softly smiles back at him.

"I will, don't worry." He adjusts the bass guitar strap, even though it already lays perfectly fine on his shoulder. He glances at his nails, almost completely back to the boring natural colour,  _ I’ll ask Julie if she wants to paint them again _ . He looks up Alex, who just sits down behind his drums.

“hey Alex.” he says, causing him to look up.

“Thank you for”— he waves his hand around, a meaningless motion, uncertain what he actually wants to say, —“ya know, being you, accepting me.”

Alex only smiles, as in to tell him not to worry about it. Reggie grins back, now noticing how the world suddenly feels a lot lighter.

That’s the moment Julie bursts into the room, gasping for air, elbows on her knees. The heavy garage doors fall shut behind her. Her backpack sways dangerously on her back, the zipper half open, threatening to spill out the content.

“Sorry, Sorry, I know I’m late,” she pants, “the study session with Flynn ran longer than planned.”

She pushes herself upright, stumbling further into the studio. She pulls out her water bottle on her way to the couch, where she lets her bag fall off her shoulder, directly followed by herself. She takes a long sip.

“Luke not here yet?” she asks with the bottle still on her lips, this time almost drowning the whole bottle. Reggie shakes his head, lost for words.

She sets down the bottle, only now looking up where their eyes have been following her in silence.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asks, frowning.

Reggie shakes his head again, peeking over his shoulder at Alex. Alex tips his head slightly forwards, giving the most miniscule nod, telling him that he is in charge.

“No not really, we were just finished,” Reggie says, turning back to Julie, scratching his neck. Julie tilts her head sideways.

“I can leave, if you want,” she says, pushing herself up, making a motion to grab her bag and bottle.

“No, you don’t have to, I just told Alex about, you know,” he holds up his hand, showing his nails. Julie’s eyes focus on his hand, the frown deepening. He can see the gears turning. She blinks once, twice. She looks at Alex, before looking back at him.

“That with Flynn.” the moment the words leave his mouth, Julie’s eyes light up in understanding, the frown disappearing.

“Oh that,” she says, leaning back, letting go of her shoulder strap, “nice.”

Reggie lets out a laugh, “Yeah, you could say that.”

Alex is smiling when he looks back at him.  _ ‘We are family.’  _ he mounts. Reggie glances at Julie, who pulled out the notebook she uses for song ideas, down at his nails, at Alex, at Luke’s guitar and sleeves jacket in the armchair.

“We are family,” he mutters to himself, unable to keep the smile of his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> As always if you have any tips, tricks or just something you want to say, leave it in the comments. Your comments make my entire week better!
> 
> I want to say that I have no personal experience with coming out, (at the moment I'm questioning,) and I imagine coming out as quite a bigger step than telling people you're questioning. However, I personally do know that telling people stuff about yourself is/can be quite scary, and that a lot of emotions are involved. Even when you're sure the person you are about to tell will react positively, it's still something you have to overcome, with all the stigma around falling outside the norm in this world. I guess I want to say, there are people that care about you, I care about you, please stay safe.


End file.
